Chrome OS is now installable using VMware (VMfusion for Mac) or Virtualbox for Windows/Mac/*nix flavors. My current setup is Windows Vista Home Premium and I’ll be running VirtualBox 3.0.12 for Windows hosts x86/amd64. There are two installation copies available at the moment one made available at Gdgt and the other one available on Torrents.

I downloaded both, worked with the install image available at Gdgt with no luck then tried the one from the Torrents which worked like a charm! Click here to download the copy available at Gdgt and here to download the copy from torrent.

Before you read too much into the whole Chrome OS thing, you should know that at this opint its nothing more than a browser, a Chrome browser. Even eventually it will remain just a browser but one that will be capable of doing a lot within a browser.

Alright, with that out of the way let’s jump right into installing the Chrome OS on Windows Vista VirtualBox. (Click here to download VirtualBox)

Step 1: Click on the “New” icon after running Virtualbox once it is installed [Screen1]

Step 2: Click “Next” on the “New Virtual Machine Wizard” [Screen2]

Step 3: Name the Virutal Machine and select the appropriate Operating System and Version from the dropdown [Screen3]

Step 4: Select the amount of memory you’d like to allocate to the Virtual Machine. Not less than 512MB’s and not more than 25% of the Memory available on the machine [Screen4]

Step 5: Select “Boot Hard Disk” checkbox and select “Use existing Hard-Disk” and click on the directory icon next to the drop down menu [Screen5]

Step 6: Click on the “Add” button on “Virtual Media Manager” window and brows and select the downloaded and unzipped Chrome OS file. [Screen6]

Step 7: Click on “Select” on the “Virtual Media Manager” [Screen7]

Step 8: Hit “Next” on the “Virtual Hard Drive” window [Screen8]

Step 9: Check the configuration and hit “Finish” to complete the setup [Screen9]

Step 10: Hit “Start” to launch the newly installed Chrome OS [Screen10]

You will see the login screen next. Use a Google account to login to the operating system and browse away using the new Google Chrome OS!

Following are few of the screenshots from the OS. As mentioned earlier, the new OS at this point it is nothign more than a browser and all you can do is browse websites once logged in.

Gauging OS performance based on the current setup is not recommended as its installed on a minimum hardware configuration.

Google just announced that the Chrome OS is ready to be kicked out in the open for the developer community to get involved.

Yes, just for the developers for now. The final release will be available same time next year. This release invites the developers to join the open-source community and build the Chrome OS. The project currently includes the latest code base, designs and user interface experiments.

It’s obviously too early to predict what the Chrome OS will look like but be sure that it will be one of the fastest OS you’ve ever used! So how are they doing that?

Google Chrome OS is laser targeted at users who heavily work on the internet so the most important thing for them is a browser. This gives them the flexibility to look at the existing technologies and get rid of the process and technologies that are not required and improve the ones that are required.

For example – Google claims that the OS can come back from sleep in almost 1 second! NOW that’s crazy!

I wrote an article about a DOS based Browser which make Operating Systems like Windows less meaningful. The article suggests creating a technology which is ONLY capable of running a browser and within that browser lies your Operating System.

This article was published almost two years ago – So just like the Windows 7 users I can proudly say Chrome OS WAS MY IDEA! – Read the article here.

Click here to register and get regular updates about Chrome OS while you wait for it to see the light of day.

Watch the following videos to see some early impressions of Chrome OS!

This Video discusses and shows how Google Chrome OS will make things faster and possible

Want to see how quickly Google Chrome OS boots? Check this video out!

An overview of the Chrome OS

This video explains how the opensource process for Chrome OS works and talks a little bit about the underlying technologies of Chrome OS

California became the first state to impose energy consumption restrictions on BIG and small screen Televisions.

This is not only done to keep the carbon footprint in control but also to bring down the cost of energy consumption for consumers. The California Energy Commission made it mandatory for TV manufacturers to reduce electricity consumption by 33% by 2011 and 49% by 2013.

The new standards are expected to save more than $8 billion in over 10 years and given the current state of California’s economy $8 billion is HUGE money.

As expected Consumer Electronics Association disagrees with the Commission’s findings and issued the following statement.

“CEA is extremely disappointed in the CEC’s decision to regulate TV energy use. Simply put, this is bad policy—dangerous for the California economy, dangerous for technology innovation and dangerous for consumer freedom. Instead of allowing customers to choose the products they want, the Commission has decided to impose arbitrary standards that will hamper innovation and limit consumer choice. It will result in higher prices for consumers, job losses for Californians, and lost tax revenue for the state.” [Link]

Energy-efficiency experts and environmentalists applauded the policy and expected the new standards to trigger new innovation and offer more choice to the American consumers. The most optimists experts expect the new policy to be adopted by commissions and policy makers around the world.

“With today’s pioneering decision, California is once again leading the way on energy efficiency standards. The newly adopted California TV standards will be the most advanced in the world. If history repeats itself, we expect many policy makers around the world to establish similar standards in the not too distant future.” [Link]

The future of this policy remains to be seen as CEA plans to go the legal route to oppose this policy from coming into existence.

Do you think CEA is reasonable in opposing this policy or is CEC being too ambitious?

The two new features are Automatic-Captions and Automatic-Timings. These features let the video uploaders add captions automatically or simply upload the transcript of the video and let Youtube figure which text goes were in the video.

Automatic-Captions: Once the video is uploaded choose “Transcribe Audio” from the captions menu, that’s it! This will add captions to your video automatically. Not just that but once the automatic-captions are created for the video, these captions can later be translated to other languages.

Imagine how great it would be if the browser detects the default language and delivers captions on the video in the same language as default. I am quite certain we will see that feature on Youtube soon.

Automatic-Timing: If you don’t want to go with the Automatic-Captions feature because you are not getting the best results, you can also upload a transcript file to make sure the subtitles on the video are perfect.

With the Automatic-Timing feature in action the users just have to upload the transcript file with the text in it and Youtube will automatically figure out which word was said when in the video and add the appropriate subtitle at the appropriate time unlike earlier where users had to time their transcript manually.

The features are currently being rolled out so if you don’t see them yet, don’t worry, you should see it by the end of the week.

Both the features are great for uploaders and viewers; however, they might not get you the best of results every time you use them. Google always relies on machine learning techniques to improve its language based services and features. So, if not now, these features will work great in the time to come.

If you are looking to achieve great results using softwares, here are two free ones that can help you get the results you are looking for.

• http://www.urusoft.net/products.php?cat=sw
• http://www.synchrimedia.com/ (Mac Only)

Also, watch the following video to see these features in action.

Just after 6 months of releasing IE8, the company starts talking about its upcoming version IE9. Keeping in mind that there was a 5 year gap between IE6 and IE7 this tells us that Microsoft is serious about beating it’s rivals in the browser drag race.

Microsoft claimed that the JavaScript performance gaps between IE and Firefox and Chrome are almost closed. In the current phase of development the browser scores an impressive 32/100 on the Acid3 test against 24/100 on IE8, however, not as impressive when Chrome, Opera and Safari score a 100!

Following videos shot by Channel 9 show interviews with the big-guns working on the upcoming version of IE9.  Videos require Silverlight to run properly. Click here to download Silverlight or simply click on the format links below the video to download and watch it.

iPod (MP4) - MP3 - PSP (MP4) - WMA - WMV - WMV (High) - Zune

Pod (MP4) - MP3 - PSP (MP4) - WMA - WMV - WMV (High) - Zune

iPod (MP4) - MP3 - PSP (MP4) - WMA - WMV - WMV (High) - Zune

I am yet to see if this version is buggy but improved performance is one of the first things that you will notice the moment any of the office applications is launched.

This beta version comes with some obvious UI tweeks. The technical preview was color packed where as the beta version goes back the old Microsoft way of keeping it simple.

Couple of notable changes between office 2010 technical preview and Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010…

• Color theme is changed to a more subtle Grey or Silver as Microsoft calls it.
• The “Back” button is changed to “File” which looks better and merges will with the rest of the items on the menu.
  
  
• Formatting and colors on the Backstage have been changed
• Microsoft has also added additional themes and transitions in the beta version of PowerPoint
  
• Menu items on Backstage have been reshuffled
  
• A “Number” of recent documents can be added to the sidebar in Backstage
  
• Themes option is back in Office Professional Plus 2010 Beta. I love the black theme
• New option called “Start Inking” used to highlight or write while reviewing documents
• New “Language Preferences” added to the Review tab
• New share on “SkyDrive” option is added to the menu on the Backstage
• Few Icons have been fixed in Beta version
  
• Office application icons get a makeover for a new and stylish look
• Outlook goes more social with the “Social Connector”. The new feature helps users bring their communications history, business and social networking feeds right into Outlook to keep on top of everything thats happening around them in office or friends.

So, that was the list of new and modified set of features in the latest version of Office beta.

Office 2010 for Windows Mobile is also made available today. It can be downloaded from Windows Market Place for Windows 6.5 Mobiles.

This was just the changelog of the Office Professional Plus 2010 Beta. Stay tuned for Office Professional Plus 2010 review.

I was taken to Supreme Camera (http://www.supremecamera.com). The site looked nicely designed has all the features an authentic site would have.

Then I noticed most of the gadgets and other things available there are unbelievably priced cheaper than any other site on the internet. For example EOS 5D Mark II is offered at $1909 (body only). The suggested retail price on Canon.com is $2699 and Amazon is selling it for $2629.

Following images give you a good idea of the deals available on this website.

Sony HDR-XR520V $1399 and Canon XH-A1S 3CCD $3759 on Amazon.

At this point the offer and the site looked really fishy. I called the number on the site and told them I am interested in knowing more about the Canon EOS 5D Mark II deal mentioned on the website and I might as well write about it.

The moment I said, I might write about it on my site the call got dropped or he hung-up maybe. I tried calling them again but was put in queue for more than 8 minutes after which I hung-up. This was suspicious again because the first time I called I got through to a sales guy almost immediately.

In no sense of the word I am suggesting that the business does not exist or it’s a trap but it certainly looks suspicious to me. Googled them and found this (Do read the comments on that post).

Now this brings us to a very important question! Should Google be responsible for the authenticity of its advertisers?

Google is an active participant in identifying phishing sites and alerting Firefox and Chrome users against them. In my opinion these sites fall under the same category.

I strongly believe, by publishing ads on its network Google is endorsing a brand, company, product, etc.. in an indirect way so it’s Google’s responsibility to make sure we are not spending our money to lose it, especially when we go to a site through its advertiser network.

Another reason for Google to avoid such sites is because the company is indirectly making money through advertiser that are scamming us.

Following information is from the Adwords policy page which clearly talks about “False claims” which in this case stands true. The site in question is known to sell refurbished goods which is not mentioned anywhere on the site, in fact it lures you into believing that all the goods are brand new.

“Scams/Phishing for Personal Information

Don’t use phishing or other scamming tactics.

Advertising is not permitted for sites collecting sensitive personal information or money with fake forms, false claims, or unauthorized use of Google Trademarks. Examples of personal information include email addresses, user names, passwords, and/or payment information. In addition, advertising is not permitted for ‘run your car on water’ programs or content.“[link]

What do you think? Should companies like Google own more responsibility of who they let into their advertising network?

Update: Just before publishing the article I called them again to confirm my thoughts. This time I called thrice, 1) Was in the queue for some time, 2) Got hung-up on and 3) Got shouted at saying “We are OUT of stock” when I asked about 3-4 cameras.

I wrote this article to share my experience with supremecamera.com. I hope people who are planning to buy from this site find it helpful.

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Image credit: teamaguilar.com

I currently have 26 widgets installed on my Chumby dashboard, however, more ambitious chumby users can choose from 100’s of widgets. One of the advantages Chumby has is its active community which is eager to contribute in from of new Widgets.

One of the best examples of how the team is working towards keeping the community active is a new widget released today for Google Voice. Once installed, this plugin automatically fetches and plays voice mails saved in your Google voice profile. Widget idea was submitted by a user and the plugin was delivered by the developer team in a month’s time and it works like a charm.

I did not get a chance to use Chumby classic so I have no point of reference but for a $100 price tag Chumby One is a darn good gadget. Though I received Chumby One as a review unit, but even if I had to buy one I wouldn’t  mind spending money on a gadget like this.

Chumby Pictures:

Chumby is good for running applications like Pandora, Twitter, Stock Quotes, Facebook Feeds, etc.. which endlessly run in the background on the computer and eat up valuable memory.

Once you get a Chumby, visit Chumby.com to register and activate the device. This is where most of the management happens. Widgets can be installed, uninstalled or configured from your account on Chumby.com. Once changes are made to the dashboard on Chumby.com it starts reflecting on the gadget within no time.

Users can also send Widgets to eachother by adding a chumby username(chum) to their friends list. Chums also have the option of embedding their Chumby on a Webpage, Virtual Chumby.

Below is my virtual chumby

Following screenshots what Chumby Dashboard looks like..

How can it get better? I’ve noticed a few things which in my opinion will improve the user experience of Chumby.

Multi-Task: The platform should be capable of running multiple applications or widgets at the same time. I don’t want to see Pandora on my screen at all time when the songs are playing, I might want to run some other application while the songs are playing in the background.

Volume dial should be multi-purpose: The knob is currently used for volume only. I think it should be put to more use like for scrolling through the list of music channels or through the list of widgets installed on Chumby.

Widget Catalogue: It’s not easy to scroll through the installed widgets when you have quite a few of them installed. I think selecting the widget would be a full screen activity which shows more than 1 installed widget at a time.

Over all I think Chumby One is a wonderful gadget to have. It enables you do to a lot of things without being at your computer or laptop at all times.

Click here to buy Chumby Classic and here for Chumby One.

Watch the following video to see Chumby One Unboxing

Update Received from Chumby: 18th Nov

Multi-Tasking: Listening to music is while using another widget is possible, ain’t that something!!!

“In the “how it can get better” section, you mention multi-tasking. We agree wholeheartedly, and built the system to enable audio while viewing content. From Pandora (in your example), tap the Done button in the lower right corner of the screen, then Done to exit the Music section, then the thumbnail of the current app (above where it says Hide Control Panel) to continue widget/app playback. You’ll be listening to Pandora and viewing your content simultaneously.” – Michael Coleman from Chumby.

Volume Knob Multi-Purpose:  The knob is built to handle more than just the volume. We can expect to see its implementation soon.

“You also mentioned that it would be nice if the volume knob could be used for other purposes. And in fact it can. It’s presented as a “mouse wheel” to Flash and uses standard Flash handlers for that. I’d expect that once the developer community gets its hands on the new devices we’ll see implementations of this.” – Michael Coleman from Chumby.

Internet is an amazing place. Here you meet people with the brightest of minds that come up with the most creative concepts. While quite a few of these concepts have a mass appeal only few manage to show impressive numbers on the balance sheet at the end of the year.

The concept we are going to discuss today falls into the category where only few manage to get you excited about the concept and keep the excitement alive when it comes to seeing the records at the end of the year.

iPodMeister operates on a very interesting business model of exchanging used CD’s and DVD’s for iPod Touch, iPod Nano, iPhone 3G/3G S and HDD’s.

Users interested in exchange are supposed to send an e-mail to promo@ipodmeister.com with the following information to receive free Fedex shipping labels. (Don’t even spend on shipping)

• First + last name
• Complete address
• Phone number (required)
• Number of CDs and DVDs in each box
• Number of boxes

Once the boxes and labels arrive, just put the CD’s or DVD’s and ship it back. Users will receive the exchange item as per their request or based on the exchange chart.

Senders should also be careful with the quality of the stuff they are sending in. Company requires the senders to make sure they qualify before they send their material in.

Here are few of the things that will get your stuff disqualified

• We do NOT accept CD singles or radio edits.
• We do NOT accept CDs that have been put in albums or case logic binders.
• We do NOT accept compilations, from stores such as Virgin Records, GAP, Victoria’s Secret, etc.  We do accept CDs issued by Time Warner or Starbucks.
• We don’t take CDs which have your initials written on the CD/Cover Art or bear labels or stickers.

Click here to read more about eligible CD’s

Users who send music to iPodMeister can also request a digitized version of their music. In this case senders will receive a set of back-up DVD’s of original sound tracks they sent in. But you will have to shell out more CD’s or DVD’s than you otherwise will.

See the following chart to see how many CDs or DVDs will get you an iPhone, iPod, Touch, etc..

Click to enlarge

You can even make up by paying if you are falling short of DVD’s or CD’s. For example if you want an iPhone 3G S 32GB and only have 300 CD’s you can make up by paying $1 per CD, in this case you would end up paying $50 with 300 CD’s to get an iPhone.

You can pay for up to 50 CD’s or DVD’s only, not more than that.

I don’t know how legit the service is but I haven’t seen anyone complaining or alerting about the service on any online forums or blogs.

I decided to call on the number mentioned on the site to know more about it and if you thought just the concept was interesting, read further to know about the interesting stuff that goes on in the background.

I talk to Kris, founder of iPodMeister. Kris was kind enough to share some background information about iPodMeister.

iPodMeister is a student effort and it was formed to help the involved students pay off their educational expenses without taking a loan. There are about 6 students involved (core-team) from institutions like Queens College, LaGuardia, NYU, Colombia, etc..

That’s the core team – 6th member is behind the camera I guess! (click to enlarge)

Once the CD’s/DVD’s are acquired from the senders they are packed in the containers of at least 20,000 CD’s or DVD’s each and shipped to countries like Jamaica, Ecuador, Colombia, Italy, Switzerland, Europe, Tiwan, Korea, etc.. where these CD’s and DVD’s are sold for a cheaper price and still manage to make enough profits to keep the cycle running.

iPodMeister has strong ties with the buyers in several countries which keep the business going. According to Kris, iPodMiester has shipped thousands of containers to the countries listed above and they are still going strong.

Overall its an interesting concept that appeals to the masses. I will give it a try soon, click here If you are interested too.

Google, Yahoo, Bing, Granny in the neighbours house who does not know how to configure her Wi-Fi router are all offering free access to internet but sometimes free comes with a higher cost when paid otherwise. It’s important to know how to surf such open hot-spots safely without losing or exposing your identity online.

Following is the list of softwares and techniques one can use to protect your computer against such pitfalls.

First things first:

• Unshare all the files and folders that are configured to share the content on your home or office network. If you don’t remember the list of files and folders that are shared over the network you can do one of two things,
  • Type  \\<Your Computer Name> to see all the shared files on your computer and remove sharing from all the files and folders
  • Go to Network and Sharing Center in the Control Panel and turn off “Folder Sharing” from under “Sharing and Discovery” section

• Install a personal firewall on the computer to know if anyone is trying to gain unauthorized access to the information on your computer.
  • ZoneAlaram (free) [link]
  • Pc Tools Freewall Plus (free) [link]
  • Ashampoo FireWall Free 1.2 (free) [link]
• Install VPN for secure browsing. VPN encrypts every bit of information that is sent and received from your computer making it a hack-proof method of browsing on open hotspots.
  • Open VPN [link]

Besides the suggestions mentioned above it is also important to make sure you have an updated anti-virus running on your computer and the computer is scanned at least once in 15 days.

I use Kaspersky on my computer and I am pretty happy with it. I’d recommend the same to all our readers. [link]

Hope this helps in securing your information over unsecured Wi-Fi and Hotspots.